Buff Orpington Producers?

[hholman11]

Hello,

I was curious if anyone knew of any hatcheries or producers of Buff Orpingtons in Western WA. I have wanted to replace my current stock with orptingtons due to their supposed hardiness and friendly temperments. I have considered ordering from hatcheries farther away and getting chicks delivered, but I'm not too sure about how that could affect the chicks? Any recommendations?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Any recommendations?

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

Hardiness and friendliness was NOT my personal experience with Orpington... and nor do I suggest them. They are heavy bodied which means eat a bunch, too broody, genetically prone to fatty liver syndrome, not really human friendly or other flock member friendly. Many birds are much better on paper than in person!

What I truly suggest is a variety that makes it easier to tell them apart at a glance, who is or isn't laying and tell their eggs apart, get a beautiful egg basket, identify which one needs help if they do, provide a lovely assortment of eye candy on pasture, etc... here are a couple comparison lists for several breeds...
http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

https://livestockconservancy.org/images/uploads/docs/pickachicken.pdf

I do suggest ordering from a hatchery or adding to a feed store order for spring... shipping can be rough depending on YOUR route, some chicks don't make it, feed stores absorb that before we get them usually. Also most breeders cannot sex their chicks unless it's an auto sexing breed or sex linked cross, so getting only females can be difficult if that the goal. Most hatcheries claim 90% accuracy sexing.

Or if you are getting them personally... buy from an NPIP breeder and protect yourself and property from any unknown illness that may not have presented yet at their current location. Never bring birds from someone else pasture (or broody hatched) to your own. Learn this lesson the easy way by taking my advice on it.

Raising chicks will give you the friendliest if you have time to spend with them. The more the better. Ordering will also give you a chance to decide how you feel about Marek's vaccine... Marek's vaccinated birds NOT welcome here to HIDE the disease. One gene was identified that gives some immunity, and I will (TRY to) breed towards that. But for some folks, especially non breeders vaccinating is preferred.

My personal favorites have been Easter Eggers (not the boys), Rocks and French black copper Marans (including boys). Least favorite so far were the Oprington and Swedish Flower. I've raised hundreds of birds in dozens of breeds and no two were exactly the same. Line and breed matter, but each is an individual... just as we and our set ups are!

FWIW... I see an ad on my local (Oregon Coast) CL farm and garden section almost all the time... from Long Beach, Washington... offering Lavender Orps and goats. I also sell many of my birds on there and very serious about what I do including bio-security, despite not (yet) pursuing NPIP. So you can get quality animals... but discernment and being VERY familiar with what you are looking for are key. I can find the link if you'd like it.

My preferred hatchery of several I've ordered from is Meyers for overall quality and shipping success on MY route.

Hope this is some good information that gives food for thought.

I know lots of folks will be happy to share their personal experience, and be along soon.

 

[hholman11]

Thanks for all the information! The more I look online, the more that "friendly temperament" I heard about seems to show up less. I'll definitely look into a variety of breeds!

However, I was wondering if you could elaborate on what a NPIP breeder is? Also what do you mean by Marek's vaccination?

Lastly, I would love to have your link if you could find it!

 

[Canuck88]

I love Orpingtons, so I’m biased..

My Orpingtons are some of the friendliest birds in my flock. They come running to me and eat out of my hand. They are from a small breeder, not a hatchery.

I live in BC, Canada (so a similar climate to you) and they do very well here. Everyone has their favourites, so you will hear both good and bad things about any breed you are considering.

 

[ShannonR]

My experience with Orphingtons is so-so. They are pretty, and not a skittish type of bird. They are bullies to other birds in the flock. They eat a huge amount of food considering the small number of eggs they lay. I didn't really see anything special in them, honestly.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

However, I was wondering if you could elaborate on what a NPIP breeder is? Also what do you mean by Marek's vaccination?

This is not the link I was first talking about, but maybe of interest...
https://oregoncoast.craigslist.org/grd/d/warrenton-laying-hens-lavender/7027126477.html

This link is to another post I'm fairly certain is the folks that were offering the Lav Orp's in the recent past though I couldn't find a current ad for them...
https://oregoncoast.craigslist.org/grd/d/long-beach-paintings-by-goats/7011129094.html

NPIP is the National Poultry Improvement Plan. Participants have had their flock or a portion there of (depending on their state requirement) tested negative for salmonella and pollorum typhoid, which allows for legal shipment or transporting of their birds across state lines. I believe those two are included in all states and some may have more tests required. They also agree to other guidelines such as only buying from other NPIP participants. This is essentially to help protect our food supply chain as poultry diseases spread fast in crowded facilities. There are lot's of things that NPIP doesn't test for (including Marek's, infectious bronchitis, and more) so it isn't a guarantee... but it does help a lot. Unfortunately, it can be a false sense of security... I'm a WAYYYY over-thinker.

Marek's... a big bad scary word for a type of poultry (herpes) virus... which is said to be "ubiquitous in poultry keeping environments" according to my state poultry vet at UC Davis in Ca. I don't fully buy that word ubiquitous, as I don't believe I have seen Marek's in 10+ years of keeping chickens. It takes at least 3 weeks from time of exposure before ANY symptoms can appear. Most often presents in juvenile birds... Older birds may have more resistance and they don't usually (from what I understand) form the tumors that press on the nerve causing limping/lameness even if they do become exposed/carriers at a later time in life. Many poultry illnesses can present similarly and be difficult to discern. Maybe I shouldn't even have raised the concern this early in your adventure.. but you did mention you have other "stock". Sorry for any confusion! Anyways, I tried to give some very basic information and the best resource I have seen was written by one of our fellow BYC'ers who faced it, link to follow. Noting some members have confirmed Marek's and have birds with it still living in their flock...
Marek's Virus FAQ

Again, sorry for coming on so strong! I like to add a couple or few new chicks/pullets each year to combat the winter lull in eggs when older ladies are laying without maxing out my space all at once. Even raise a bunch and sell the ones that are "less friendly" to folks who don't care as much as I do about that but happy to get a bird(s) that doesn't still need heat or maybe even close to laying. My Orp experience was both hatchery and breeder birds.

Happy adventuring!

 

[Acre4Me]

@hholman11, you can search the NPIP database to see if someone is close to you to pick up birds/chicks. On the NPIP website there is a place to click on the map of the US by state. This opens up a multi page document of listed NPIP breeders and hatcheries and their addresses For that state. The breeds that each place carries is represented by a stock code. These stock codes are listed under a link on the left side of the NPIP website. The stock codes (alphabetical) are grouped by type, for example Bantam stock start with one letter, but full size chickens another letter, then a number to differentiate. Other poultry are listed as well, such as ducks etc.


I utilized this tool when I had ordered chicks from a large hatchery, but they all were DOA. Although that hatchery was within driving distance to me, it was 3 hours one way -too long for me to drive round trip for a relatively small chick order. So, I searched for a closer hatchery and found two. I’ve been buying from one of them several times now and I’ve been really happy with the chicks, and since I drive to pick them up, they are healthy and not stressed. As for the other NPIP hatchery I found, I did not place an order with them bc they have had two salmonella outbreaks in the past that the CDC has been involved in due to the number of people sick. So, just because a place is NPIP doesn’t mean they are disease free, but it does mean they have taken steps to be qualified for NPIP and been inspected and tested for some avian diseases. Now if people would stop kissing the chickens and also wash their hands, the Salmonella outbreaks might be smaller!

 

[Acre4Me]

@hholman11, I'm at my computer now, so easier to post more info.

NPIP website: http://www.poultryimprovement.org/statesContent.cfm

When you click on WA, there are 7 pages of NPIP listings by breeder/hatchery. Looks like they are spread out across the state, so some are on the west side. You could look at Oregon too, to see if any options that are easy to drive to.

Here are the codes for Buff Orps, as an example:

Regular sized birds:

BANTAM sized Birds.

While in the document, I can use my "find" function (for me, this is in a drop down menu under "edit") to find the specific code in the document. So, I searched for W16, and no one listed comes up. Then I searched for R7 and there were some listings that came up for that code. You could look up the breed you wanted and specifically search. Or you can find a nearby place and see what they have to offer. The stock codes are also listed numerically if you go that route. Don't forget that some places are not going to have much web presence. They may just use CL or FB to market their birds/ chicks/ eggs...or their business on fb (bc fb does not allow the sale of animals).